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California's leading teacher unions have argued that Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu's recent ruling that teachers' fix tenure and firing laws violate students' rights had nothing to do with what was best for the children.

The Los Angeles judge yesterday ruled that the Golden State's teacher tenure, dismissal and layoff laws were "unconstitutional" and that they allow bad teachers to remain in classrooms and force good teachers out.

But, the two teacher unions that had intervened to defend the legality of the controversial laws on behalf of their nearly 450,000 members alleged that the ruling was part of a broader effort to weaken organized labor.

Dean E. Vogel, president of California Teachers Association, said the lawsuit was fabricated by a Silicon Valley millionaire and a corporate public relations firm to undermine the teaching profession. He added that the association was planning to appeal the ruling.

Opposing the ruling, Vogel said, "This lawsuit has nothing to do with what's best for kids, but was manufactured by a Silicon Valley millionaire and a corporate PR firm to undermine the teaching profession and push their agenda on our schools. We plan to appeal this decision."

Jim Finberg, a lawyer for the California Teachers Association, said he was confident that yesterday's ruling would be reversed on appeal.

A number of billionaires, including Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, Wal-Mart's owner Walton family, and homebuilding & insurance entrepreneur Eli Broad have been advocating for public schools to be run more like competitive businesses.